NHL Playoff Predictions

One thing many of us enjoy in general is making predictions. This is especially the case when it comes to sports. With anywhere from two to four games played so far from all the respective teams, we have had the privileged of a sneak peak.

Now the challenge. Do we make our predictions based off of the previous season? The off-season moves or lack there of? The pre-season games? The recent regular season games? Star power? There are many factors to take into consideration but some of those factors could prove to be meaningless pending each teams' respective situation.

With that said let me state that, in my opinion, predictions have very little to do with your knowledge of the sport at hand and more to do with luck. Knowledge will help to some degree but in the end the beauty of sports is unpredictability. We have seen the best falter and the worse succeed. The fact that Pro-Line and other gambling organization make millions off of sport gamblers supports such a theory. Let me further mention that the majority of these gamblers are quite the knowledgeable sport enthusiasts.

Now onto the guidelines of the predictions. I have created a point system because everyone loves points, rankings and what not. You pick the 16 teams you think will make the Eastern and Western Conference playoffs. If you successfully predicted a team's exact playoff ranking, three point. If your prediction of a team's ranking was off by one spot, two points. However, this will not apply for a ninth place ranking. Finally, if a team on your list made the playoffs that did not meet the above two criteria then you receive one point. For example, you predicted the Florida Panthers to place first in the Eastern Conference and they placed fourth. That's one point.

Keep in mind that I am making my top three picks in each conference based on my predicted winners of each respective division.


NHL Playoff Predictions

Western Conference:
1 - Detroit Red Wings
2 - San Jose Sharks
3 - Vancouver Canucks
4 - Chicago Blackhawks
5 - Los Angeles Kings
6 - St. Louis Blues
7 - Dallas Stars
8 - Edmonton Oilers

Eastern Conference:
1 - Washington Capitals
2 - Philadelphia Flyers
3 - Boston Bruins
4 - Tampa Bay Lighting
5 - Pittsburgh Penguins
6 - Carolina Hurricanes
7 - Buffalo Sabres
8 - Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto pick is 50% to be ridiculous and 50% as a sleeper pick. I did originally say despite being a much, much better team than they were last year, I do not think they will make the playoffs. They will compete though (maybe that means they can land the 7/8 spot). They will likely be in that 7-11 seeding that competes for a playoff spot in the final week of the season. With that said, I would love for them to prove me wrong. It would be a great story and good for hockey in general. if they make such a surprising run.

Please post your predictions. It will be fun to look back on come playoffs!